Mayor Pam Triolo and three commissioners got up before atheist Preston Smith began his invocation.

It was a silent protest that one week later many have misunderstood as intolerance, Triolo said.

"I walked out not because I didn't want to hear an atheist’s message, but because I didn't want to hear Mr. Smith’s message," she said.

Triolo said a tweet from earlier this year associated with a Preston Smith Twitter account motivated her to walk out. She said a constituent alerted her to the tweet before the meeting. She called the post, which deals with rape, dark and disturbing.

"If I choose to walk out because I don't think rape is a funny matter, then forgive me. I'm not going to sit here and say that I didn't allow an atheist to speak at a meeting because I was against his religion," Triolo said.

WPBF made numerous attempts to contact Smith by phone, email and social media as well as through the American Atheist Association but did not hear back before deadline.

During the Dec. 2 meeting, Smith’s message was clear. He ended the invocation urging others to "embrace secular-based morality and do good for goodness sake."

Triolo said she has no regrets and if Smith came back for a second invocation she would walk out again.

Quakers and Wiccans have led invocations at Lake Worth City Hall in the past, she said. Anyone with a positive message is welcome -- all they have to do is sign up at the Clerk’s Office, she said.